The Kirkus Prize is one of the richest literary awards in the world, with a prize of $50,000 bestowed annually to authors of fiction, nonfiction and young readers’ literature. It was created to celebrate the 81 years of discerning, thoughtful criticism Kirkus Reviews has contributed to both the publishing industry and readers at large. Books that earned the Kirkus Star with publication dates between November 1, 2015, and October 31, 2016 (see FAQ for exceptions), are automatically nominated for the 2016 Kirkus Prize, and the winners will be selected on November 3, 2016, by an esteemed panel composed of nationally respected writers and highly regarded booksellers, librarians and Kirkus critics.

KIRKUS REVIEW

A nationally syndicated conservative columnist explores the extent and impact of the Soviet Union’s penetration of the United States government.

Referring to Franklin Roosevelt’s “one-man cabinet,” Gen. George C. Marshall once remarked that Harry “Hopkins’s job with the president was to represent the Russian interests. My job was to represent the American interests.” Notwithstanding the many possible alternative readings, West (The Death of the Grown-Up: How America’s Arrested Development Is Bringing Down Western Civilization, 2008) takes this comment as further evidence for her dossier demonstrating that Hopkins was Stalin’s complicit errand boy. In this, as in many other instances, she goes too far, challenging conventional histories at almost every turn. But she also makes a number of valid, sufficiently provocative points. Not until the 1990s, with access to the Venona files and Soviet archives, have historians wholly appreciated the scope of Russian spying in this country from the time FDR formally recognized the Soviet Union in 1933. West matches these new revelations to previously known facts and wonders why we’ve neglected to fully adjust the historical record. Why are whistle-blowers of the era still reviled as redbaiters, informers and rats? How has the stench of totalitarian Marxism, every bit as noxious as its contemporaneous ideologies, Nazism and fascism, failed to fully register? With the aid, she insists, of a small army of occupiers in New Deal agencies, the Treasury, Agricultural and State departments, Stalin had his way with the U.S. government and caused enormous suffering. West blames our elected officials, establishment historians (especially for ignoring intelligence history), blinkered journalists and elites sympathetic to the collectivist agenda for suppressing evidence of what she terms a massive betrayal of our traditions and institutions.

A frustrating mixture of incontrovertible facts and dubious speculation. Proceed with caution.

Be the first to discover new talent!
Each week, our editors select the one author and one book they believe to be most worthy of your attention and highlight them in our Pro Connect email alert.
Sign up here to receive your FREE alerts.